Women's Tennis

Pioneer Tennis Teams Honored for Academic Success by the ITA

Aug 27, 2010

FAIRFIELD, Conn. - The Sacred Heart men's and women's tennis
programs were honored for their academic success in 2009-10 by
earning Intercollegiate Tennis Association being named Division I
All-Academic Teams. Nine Pioneers in total were selected as
ITA Scholar-Athletes in addition for posting a grade point average
of 3.50 or higher.

The Pioneer women's team earned ITA All-Academic Team honors for
the the ninth-straight season under head coach Mike
Guastelle. As a team, the Pioneers posted a team GPA of 3.535
during last season. The Pioneers and Monmouth University were
the only schools from the Northeast Conference honored. For
the first time in program history, the SHU men's program attained
All-Academic honors. Under head coach Paul Gagliardi, the
Pioneers posted a team GPA of 3.335 in 2009-10. The SHU men
were the only team from the Northeast Conference honored by the
ITA.

Six Sacred Heart women's players attained Scholar-Athlete status
with the ITA. Three recent graduates led the way with
Julianne Kasinow closing out her career as a four-time
honoree. Ashley Amalfe earned the honor for the third time
and Lindsay Scierka was a two-time award winner over her
career. Senior Elizabeth
Harrington earned recognition for the third-straight season and
junior Delaney Downing
was honored for the second-straight season. Rebecca McMullin
rounded out the Pioneer's six winner for last season.

On the men's side, seniors Chris Ujkic, Jinal Shah and Cole
Conrad all earned ITA Scholar-Athlete honors. Both Ujkic and
Shah are three-time honorees while Conrad earned a place on the
list for the first time in his career.

The ITA All-Academic Team award is open to any ITA program that
has a cumulative team grade point average of 3.20 or above (on a
4.00 scale). All eligible student-athletes whose names appear on
the NCAA/NAIA/NJCAA/CA JUCO eligibility form and have competed in
one or more varsity matches must average into the GPA for the
current academic year (including fall 2009 and spring 2010).

In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status a player must meet
the following criteria: 1.) be a varsity letter winner, 2.) have a
grade point average of at least 3.50 (on a 4.00 scale) for the
current academic year, and 3.) have been enrolled at their present
school for at least 2 semesters (including freshman thorough senior
year).